Dear Fil, David and David and the neighbouring “context” lot,





Both Fil and David(Sless) underlined activities connected to design activity 
but previous to design activity in the sense that they may be performed by a 
different group of people that conducts the design activity.

So, I’m must get back to predesign and designology and some of the concepts 
about what design should be at the university. Both concepts, to my view, 
were at stake a couple of years ago during the On-Line Conference “Design at 
Irvine or Die”..

So, I must get back a little into some founding puzzles that still haunt me.



Hard is the life of the ones that dwell amongst the production of the 
artificial world.

Being so human, this activity call upon almost all Humanities and all 
Sciences and, why not, all Arts.

All (any) theoretical discourse may be pertinent for legitimising the 
actions of Designers as designers. Nevertheless, Psychology will be 
psychology without design research, or was it from the beginning a design 
theory? The same for Anthropology: If anthropology was from the beginning a 
designology, why on earth, someone decided to call it anthropology, for 
heavens sake! The list can go on forever: We cannot think a Sociology 
without any account of the artificial world (who produces it, who consumes 
it) but sociology lives very well outside the Design academic orbit.

Communication Sciences, historically recent and fresh, are also living very 
well outside our design research universe.

Philosophy! Since Plato’s pleas about visuality inside a republican/reality 
cave was doomed to make it a Design Theory.

Theology: Why did God designed nipples in men or small bushes? They seem to 
have no purpose…



Well my problem is very simple, after all: I’m running a school at 
university level. So, besides teaching students how to behave looking like 
designers in the outside world, I must know what the limits are for what is 
reasonable to call research. Putting aside an institutional theory about it 
that would state: Research is what institutions devoted to research say that 
research is, and putting also aside what other disciplines say research is, 
because I want to develop design research and not just research, I would 
come to a first limiting situation that I would call Ethical. Asking, 
therefore, the question: What kind of research is it legitimate for a 
university design school to conduct?

In a sense I’m asking also what kind of work will my institution will accept 
as PhD research projects or MPhil research project (There is no tradition of 
MAs in Portugal).

Well, first of all, we will accept work that will help to build a 
“designoloy”(A science that studies design as an activity and the 
identifiable features in things relatable to design). That would take care 
of the Phil part of it.

Second, we will accept work that will contribute for better design 
performance (determined by the possibility or existence of design work) BUT 
will stop before design itself.

Once more my own experience: When we got the funding for the research on 
signalisation in hospitals, part of the team wanted to finish the work by 
doing the actual design of a signage system for at least one hospital. More: 
one of the hospitals wanted us to design a signage system for them. I said: 
here is where we stop. We will not go outside competing with the ones we 
have educated. We have already done something to help them to make design 
decisions not only on an empirical basis.

Of course, large companies can do what we have done (for instance, we “used” 
150 students for conducting surveys and queries) but I don’t mind to compete 
with them. In fact, large design companies, normally hire other firms to do 
such work. Research firms, or survey firms or whatever. Why do I don’t mind 
to compete with research and surveys companies?

Because researching and surveying is one of the items that will evaluate my 
school’s performance in the end.

Why do I mind to compete with design studios and design professionals?

Because the performance of professionals that my school has graduated will 
count for the evaluation my school in the sense that if they are successful 
that success is partly due to their education.

That’s why all kinds of pre design are interesting for me.

Nevertheless this crudité, my favourite kind of predesign is anything that 
is inspiring, that one keeps as a secret, which one can secretly refer as 
the triggering point for a good design solution like cleaning the studio 
with a mop gazing at the squeezed wet spiral on the bucket.



Well, cheers,



Have a nice weekend,



Eduardo



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Sless" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 10:14 PM
Subject: Re: Pre-Design?


>
David asked:
> Pre- design? What's that? Helps the design project? or its a project
> inside the project?

I think this might be what we call, in our own terminology, scoping.
But I'm not entirely sure.
Fillipo's and Eduardo's posts seem to confirm this.

David
-- 
Professor David Sless BA MSc FRSA
Director • Communication Research Institute of Australia
• helping people communicate with people •

60 Park Street • Fitzroy North • Melbourne • Australia • 3068

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